Party Setup

lespaul00

How does this party look?

PC - Berserker
Minsc
Keldorn
Jaheria
Yoahimo-Imoen
Aerie

Too light on magic? Maybe drop Keldorn for Jan for extra magic?

sarevok57

in theory any team can beat the game, so your team set up should work, also depending on when you plan on getting imoen, having a full mage really helps in bg2, if you are going to get rid of keldorn I would suggest keeping nalia around instead, also if jaheira has a belt of giant strength she can be quite decent in melee combat, there is a +3 club in trademeet that deals an extra 3 acid damage each hit, because from what I see, pc, minsc, keldorn, and jaheira can all be used in melee, and you don't need 4 in melee ( I usually stick to having 3 characters in melee) also when it comes two handed wielding keldorn does it better than minsc because keldorn can eventually use the holy avenger and they both have pretty bad dex, and there is only one pair of gauntlets of dexterity ( plus keldorn has higher con, so more HP) strength is irrelevant as well because there are belts of strength everywhere ( well at least 3 in SoA and 1 in ToB) but its up to you, if I were running it I would make the team as follows; pc, jaheria using a melee weapon and shield, keldorn using a melee weapon and shield ( if pc was using a two handed weapon, if not then keldorn would use a two handed weapon) aerie on sling duty using that awesome selection of spells, keep yoshimo until I get imoen and then have nalia for mage support to help make up for imoen not being there

JuliusBorisov

Your PC is a berserker, so you can drop Minsc and take someone else with magic. Jan is always fun to have around.

You have 1.5 mage and 0.5 cleric + 0.5 druid, so I would take Anomen instead of Minsc. Anomen can be a great fighter and he will also support your divine department.

But in the end, it's up to you. Play the party you want. Try those NPCs you haven't tried yet. Have you tried Rasaad? Haer'Dalis? Or maybe even Cernd?

Heindrich

You are alright in the arcane department with Imoen, especially if you rescue her fairly early. The biggest problem (I found personally) was the lack of spell protection penetration with Aerie because she will be behind the curve of most serious mage battles you encounter. However, you have Keldorn... so problem solved.

Merina

lespaul00 said:

Too light on magic?

Do you like magic users? Then you may want more than one mage in the party. Else, a single mage is enough. Especially Imoen, if rescued early. Aerie doesn't advance as fast, because she is a multi-class Cleric/Mage. If you don't rescue Imoen early, Aerie may become the more capable mage than Imoen at first, but Imoen will catch up quickly.

Also, having Aerie be the one to cast both arcane and divine spells can be a hindrance when preparing for a fight and also during a fight. Once Imoen is in the party, you will likely make either one the backup mage, which can be boring.

Jaheira and Aerie overlap: Druid spells vs. Cleric spells. And Jaheira needs more baby-sitting to become a helpful blocker. She also doesn't advance as fast as your single-class characters.

Maybe drop Keldorn for Jan for extra magic?

Keldorn is fun. Also don't be too focused on what weapon to give him. Same for Minsc. Both will get enough proficiency points to learn various weapons, two-handed weapon style and even two-weapons style. There are also enough two-handed weapons to divide among the fighters.

Jan is very special and not everyone's cup of tea. It depends on your playing style, too, and how much you like to give instructions during combat.

You can find a recent post from me where I've built a party with the PC a Cavalier (to romance Anomen), Minsc, Anomen, Keldorn, Jaheira (replaced in ToB) and Nalia (replaced with Imoen rescued very early). I had started with halberds and various two-handed swords before making Minsc and Keldorn also learn dual-wielding.

There are many options and possibilities.

elminster

Your party looks perfect. I wouldn't touch a thing!

Musigny

lespaul00 said:

How does this party look?

Top classic. Complementary and very efficient if properly managed.

Lord_Tansheron

It's a very decent setup, using the more powerful NPCs available. Not much to say, you'll do fine.

Ksubo

With their eyes

Blades

Drop Keldorn, Jaheira and Yoshi. Add Korgan, Mazzy and Jan. Mixed with Minsc you will tons laughs...

Jarrakul

I like it a lot. The only thing I'd be concerned is arcane magic pre-Imoen. Might make more sense to go Nalia->Imoen or Jan->Imoen. I suspect you'll be able to manage either way, though.

Musigny

Jarrakul said:

I like it a lot. The only thing I'd be concerned is arcane magic pre-Imoen. Might make more sense to go Nalia->Imoen or Jan->Imoen. I suspect you'll be able to manage either way, though.

Don't get me wrong, mages/sorcerers are so nice... However arcane magic is not compulsory. You may even do without, especially in a unmodded game.
This team is a nice mage killer group : inquisitor dispel magic, mind shielded berzerker and enraged minsc, druid offensive spells (e.g. insect plague), backstabbing + traps and an additional npc to help buffer the group.
Even Irenicus is starting to be lily-livered.

Wanderon

Unless it's been changed in EE I've never found Minsc rage useful since he is as likely to be slicing and dicing party members as he is enemies.

xscott71x

Wanderon said:

Unless it's been changed in EE I've never found Minsc rage useful since he is as likely to be slicing and dicing party members as he is enemies.

I always use EEKeeper to remove his Berserk, and give him the normal Berserker innate.

Lord_Tansheron

xscott71x said:

I always use EEKeeper to remove his Berserk, and give him the normal Berserker innate.

Seems 100% reasonable to me. Think about it: does Minsc strike you as someone who'd lash out and hurt innocent people, even while in a rage? Don't think so. Imagine him killing someone by accident, he'd never get over that. Doesn't fit his character at all.

On the other hand, going into a rage and then ending up in a tight spot afterwards due to being winded (= Berserker Rage) sounds EXACTLY like something our hamster-loving overeager butt-kicker would do.

Yannir

The raging has more to do with Minsc being Rashemaar. A Rashemaar Berserker's rage IS uncontrollable, and that's why Minsc is on his dajemma in the first place. It's his whole reason for being there. So I think his ability makes perfect sense. Especially since he doesnt remember anything he does during the rage. And he never will.

PS. For more on this, read Elaine Cunningham's "Starlight and Shadows"-trilogy.

Jarrakul

I was about to point out that by BG2 Minsc has more experience than most Rashemaar Berserkers by far... but then I remembered the lodge in Mask of the Betrayer. If those guys are any indication (and, granted, it makes absolutely no sense for them to be), Minsc is but a child until midway through ToB.

jackjack

I'd say drop Minsc for Anomen.

Yannir

@Jarrakul
Rashemen has kept Thayan invaders away for a millennia with a population 3 times smaller. I'd say Rashemaar berserkers are badass. It certainly isn't the witches.

About the party btw, I'd ditch Jaheira for Anomen. He's the better fighter and keeps progressing in cleric levels fairly regularly whereas Jaheira gets stuck at lvl 14 for a reaaally long time. She only has 1 lvl 7 spell at that point. On top of that, her romance conflicts with Aerie's in many ways and one of them needs to go at some point. Spec Anomen into warhammers. AND HAVE HIM DUAL-WIELD! Crom Faeyr+that Storm Mace/Runehammer=Annihilation.

About Keldorn and Minsc, have one of them specced into halberds, preferrably Minsc. Spec Kel into crossbows and Minsc into longbows. When you get Imoen, she does good with a shortbow.

PS. When I was power-playing, I had this PC, Minsc, Keldorn, Anomen, Imoen and Edwin-group which was phenomenal. PC was Cavalier with dual longswords or bastard+longsword, I think. He became a Fallen Paladin in hell to get Blackrazor.

Heindrich

Yannir said:

@Jarrakul
On top of that, her romance conflicts with Aerie's in many ways and one of them needs to go at some point.

They have a little spat, but won't drive one another out of the party. I did the Aerie romance and kept Jaheira until the final battle of Throne of Bhaal.

Both Jaheira and Anomen are awesome in their own ways. Yes druid lv14--->lv15 is a major pain, and Anomen can be a serious powerhouse, but Anomen doesn't come with early Fire Elementals, or Insect Plague, or Iron Skins.

Jarrakul

Yannir said:

Rashemen has kept Thayan invaders away for a millennia with a population 3 times smaller. I'd say Rashemaar berserkers are badass. It certainly isn't the witches.

Badass I'll grant you, but there's a difference between badass and "we have a weapon master so high level he's somehow gained the ability to teleport". Mask of the Betrayer was a great game, but it took serious liberties with the levels of relatively normal human enemies.

Yannir

@Heindrich Guess I just took the wrong conversation options since I once got Aerie to leave the group permanently on one of those spats..

I'd still go with Anomen before Jaheira, she annoys me more than Anomen ever could. And all those clerical undead whacking abilities come in handy since Aerie doesn't progress too fast either.

@Jarrakul Never played MotB or NWN2. I did play the original NWN a few times over.

Jarrakul

NWN2 had some great points and some really boring points. MotB was excellent from a writing standpoint, although not as strong in terms of its gameplay, and is best described as "Planescape: Torment meets Princess Mononoke." It is awesome.